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Some important data points on the Rawalpindi riots:
• Murree Road was among the main sites of violence in Rawalpindi city—in alliance with Raja Bazaar and Lal Kurti
• FIRs were filed for attacks there, but details and names have not surfaced publicly.
• Accounts by historians claim that Pakistani policemen aided mobs, and attackers were identifiable by name and village in those FIRs
https://www.punjabpartition.com/single-post/2019/09/08/the-rape-of-rawalpindi
Article in Daily times by Haroon Mustafa Janjua:
https://dailytimes.com.pk/107186/rawalpindi-a-communal-episode/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
On March 5, 1947, on hearing of the firing on Hindu and Sikh students of Lahore, the Hindu-Sikh students of Rawalpindi took out a procession, protesting against the Muslim attempt at the formation of a communal (Muslim League) ministry in the Punjab, and the police firing on the non-violent procession of Hindu and Sikh students. This procession was attacked by Muslim Leaguers. There was a free fight, of which the Muslims got the worst of it. Then a huge Muslim mob from the countryside, incited for an attack on Hindus and Sikhs by the Pir of Golra, a Muslim religious head and a leader of this area, fell upon the town. But the Hindus and Sikhs fought them from their mohallas in trenches, and the Muslims lost again (P.78, SGPC Report).
I visited Chotta Bazaar Saddar, Rawalpindi on March 26 and 27, from dawn to dusk. On the first day, I did not succeed in meeting any witnesses, but after asking around, I came to know about Ghulam Abbas, an old man running a shop with his grandsons. He narrated the happenings in his residential area and the Raja Bazaar. Here is the excerpt from his interview:
“I was born on June 1922, in Rawalpindi. All communities — Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs — were living peacefully in our residential area. We had very good relations with our Hindu neighbours, and Sikhs in our mohalla. Om Parkash and Lala Parshad Ram were bankers; we had one common wall between our houses, and women from both sides exchanged gossip. We were all living like brothers and sisters. The situation deteriorated when Master Tara Singh spoke against the Muslim League in Lahore, and issued a proactive statement. If he hadn’t done that, immediate violence had not taken place. It was early March days when I went to the Raja Bazaar to buy goods from a Sikh wholesale trader. I was in their mohalla, it was 12:00 pm, and clashes began. We had business relations with that Sardar, and he immediately went with me and hid me inside his room. He advised me to keep calm, and told me that if some other Sikhs knew about my presence there, they would kill me. I was afraid, but he took care of me. When the curfew was over, he said to me that the situation was better, and I must leave. I stayed inside his house for 45 minutes.”
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